So, now what

[Lavo]

I'll get you the Roik Chuan Mara in a bit, that's the only other ship which has such a skin. Also I tried getting the fixed Gunboat ingame, something tells me the UV change did not end well.

[Warb_Null]

hmm.. it looked better in max, something got screwd up along the way.

 

http://speedy.sh/43geh/gunboat.max

[Warb_Null]

Hey Lavo, I have got a whole bunch of new planet textures, courtesy of Burntstrobe. These textures have a whole lot less polar pinching (as near as nothing) and generaly look better imo. I spend a few days converting them to sins' specs and the look good ingame except for the clouds, they still are messed up (and not so easely fixed)

I was thinking, why not use the original clouds from vanilla sins? Take the cloud mesh from vanilla and the planet mesh from soge, stick them together and done. I'm asuming here that there are in fact two meshes.

The only other way to fix the clouds is to have very heavy cloud cover on the poles but that would suck just as much if you ask me.

 

So what do you think, worth a try ? If so, can you get me the meshes of the sins planet and soge planet. And while you're at it the galaxy mesh too so the "black hole" can be fixed.

 

Also haven't got the mesh of the Roik Chuan Mara yet.

[Lavo]

Hey Lavo, I have got a whole bunch of new planet textures, courtesy of Burntstrobe. These textures have a whole lot less polar pinching (as near as nothing) and generaly look better imo. I spend a few days converting them to sins' specs and the look good ingame except for the clouds, they still are messed up (and not so easely fixed)

So I heard from Burntstrobe, thanks for these. They look really nice! Send 'em off to Nova once you're finished with them, as he's running the planets mod/portion and such.

 

I was thinking, why not use the original clouds from vanilla sins? Take the cloud mesh from vanilla and the planet mesh from soge, stick them together and done. I'm asuming here that there are in fact two meshes.

I actually have no idea how Sins renders planets. I will get you the stock planet meshes, but that's really all I am capable of doing.

 

And while you're at it the galaxy mesh too so the "black hole" can be fixed.

I don't know what mesh is used for this, unfortunately.

 

Also haven't got the mesh of the Roik Chuan Mara yet.

I actually would like to leave the rose skin on the Roik Chuan Mara, Malatok, and Ro'ik Va'lh. It looks fairly nice on them. However, the skin you made for the Ro'ik Va'lh, would fit very well on the Cluster Ship. I will send you it's mesh. Speaking of the Ro'ik Va'lh, for some reason, it's right side does not render well ingame, but the left does. I believe I know the reason for this however, it has to do with the UV mesh somehow. Here's the two sides in XSI, under the "Constant" view mode: left and right. As you can see, the right side is very smooth and consistent with the blue, but the left side is a mess.

 

Plus, the Scout Ship and Gunboat are still messed up. The former still has holes. For the latter, I believe the issue is related to the UV map. When you gave me the fixed Gunboat, I noticed on both of them that you had changed the UV map from it's original form, for some reason. With the original UV map/mesh, the model displays fine, and as such I believe that if you can slap the UV map of the original Gunboat onto the fixed one, that it will stop being warped.

[Warb_Null]

This is getting anoying. I'm downloading XSI as i type this so i can do the conversion myself (hopefully). that way i can check if what i send you is actually any good and stop wasting your time.

 

I do have something else to waste your time on though. I made a worldhip yesterday. I intended it to be a placeholder until Burtstrobes version becomes available but it turned out nicer than i expected...

 

http://speedy.sh/qGSVX/Worldship.rar

 

p.s. what do you use to convert the sins .mesh files to something max can read?

[Lavo]

I do have something else to waste your time on though. I made a worldhip yesterday. I intended it to be a placeholder until Burtstrobes version becomes available but it turned out nicer than i expected...

 

http://speedy.sh/qGSVX/Worldship.rar

Oh boy, more rigging!

 

p.s. what do you use to convert the sins .mesh files to something max can read?

A 3ds Max script from myfist0's site, which seems to be down. Mirror here; it requires the .mesh to be in bin format (rather than the txt format used in the beta).

 

Edit: Found the galaxy backdrop file; it's Galaxy.dds in the Textures folder. Upon further research, it seems the black hole bug is likely occurring due to how Sins renders the backdrop.

[Warb_Null]

Found the galaxy backdrop file; it's Galaxy.dds in the Textures folder. Upon further research, it seems the black hole bug is likely occurring due to how Sins renders the backdrop.

 

Thanks, i had found the texture myself, i was after the mesh but nevermind, i found it too. You're right, the black hole is caused by polar pinching similar to the planets. I can be fixed by remapping the poles. I couldn't import the model in max because it's not binary as you said it needed to be for the omporter to work. So i edited a skybox from vanilla sins and modified the texture accordingly.

Voila, no more black hole

 

http://speedy.sh/wDK47/galaxy-fixed.rar

 

The resolution of the texture is a bit reduced (to about 60%) the texture size is 8k x 2k If you want the original resolution it's going to need to be 16k x 4k (twice as big athe original)

 

The planet clouds are unfixable imo. As far as i can tell there is no mesh for them and the clouds in vanilla are mapped the same way as the soge ones . The best thing to do is use the vanilla clouds.

[Lavo]

You're right, the black hole is caused by polar pinching similar to the planets. I can be fixed by remapping the poles. I couldn't import the model in max because it's not binary as you said it needed to be for the omporter to work.

Awesome, thanks for this fix! Though, I notice that as you didn't maintain the same proportions for the "main" portion of Galaxy.dds that it looks pixelated ingame. Is there any way to change this?

 

Also, if you're interested, you can convert meshes to bin using the "sinstextbinner.exe" found in harpo's utilities pack. Or you can just ask me to convert 'em for you, which ever works.

[Warb_Null]

fixed the fix

http://speedy.sh/bwakU/galaxy.dds

[Lavo]

After thinking it over for awhile, I've decided not to include the galaxy fix as it reduces the overall quality of the map too much. However, I will release it as an optional patch, for those who wish to use it, as it does fix those gaping holes in the middle.

[MrPhildevil]

I'm interested in that fix!

[Warb_Null]

After thinking it over for awhile, I've decided not to include the galaxy fix as it reduces the overall quality of the map too much. However, I will release it as an optional patch, for those who wish to use it, as it does fix those gaping holes in the middle.

 

I'll give you another option

I can keep the original quality of the texture but the filesize will be increased due to the odd dimentions.

The original texture is 22MB, the fixed lower res is 16MB. Fixed original res is 65MB.

 

http://speedy.sh/txFtn/galaxy-hires.rar

 

The choise is yours

[Lavo]

The choise is yours

I don't mind increasing the filesize of things at all; will check this out. Thanks a bunch. Edit: Oh wow, this is amazing!

 

Also, once the Gunboat, Ro'ik Va'lh, and Scout Ship are fixed up, I have some more model requests for you. However, I must warn you that they're for structures and not ships. Well, except for the starbase constructors.

[Warb_Null]

I hope to fix the vong in the next few days. XSI is not an easy program to work with. it's fighting me every step of the way. Maybe it's because i'm used to MAX but i find it very user unfriendly. oh well..

 

I don't mind making structures at all. I hope you have pictures of what you want though, i'm not terrible creative when it comes to making new stuff up but i'll do my best if you don't

Please post the list.

 

Edit : oke, maybe not a few days. http://speedy.sh/4vNvh/Gunboat.rar

[Lavo]

I have pictures for nearly everything; except for a starbase constructor.

 

And yeah, XSI is a pain. You are among multiple modelers who cannot stand it. It is possible to do everything in 3DS Max, rigging included, though I don't know how to do so personally (IskatuMesk posted a guide on this awhile ago), this thread might be of use if you haven't seen it before.

[MrPhildevil]

Last update I made was far lower than 65 MB. Is that normal?

[Lavo]

Last update I made was far lower than 65 MB. Is that normal?

Yes, as SVN has it's magical ways of "updating" previously existing files. To it, a lot of the galaxy.dds was already "there" when you updated. This also happens when you are uploading things to the SVN, it doesn't upload the "whole" file.

[Warb_Null]

I have pictures for nearly everything; except for a starbase constructor.

 

And yeah, XSI is a pain. You are among multiple modelers who cannot stand it. It is possible to do everything in 3DS Max, rigging included, though I don't know how to do so personally (IskatuMesk posted a guide on this awhile ago), this thread might be of use if you haven't seen it before.

 

I found that 3dmax tutorial a few days ago thanks to Sinperiums bump. It makes thing a lot easier.

 

Send over the pics and i'll get on it asap.

[Lavo]

Sure; here's the list.

 

Capital ship factory

Repair yard

Gravity Well Generator (if you have any custom ideas, those would be welcome as well)

Starbase constructors (anything you can think of, or a sort of cargo ship/etc that carries building supplies for this works as well)

Turbolaser Defenses (while there aren't true orbital turrets in SW; this pics might be useful for inspiration)

Missile Defense (I imagine these could be Turbolaser Defenses but with a missile rack instead of a "gun")

[Warb_Null]

I made the Sluis Van Yard a while back for RaW so that's allready done.

http://speedy.sh/8G2be/Sluis-Van.rar

 

There are Turbolaser and missile defense platforms in EaW. I'll use those designs. They look nice.

For a construction ship i think the cargo ferry from XWA will do nicely.

[Lavo]

I made the Sluis Van Yard a while back for RaW so that's allready done.

http://speedy.sh/8G2be/Sluis-Van.rar

This looks great! Though, I have an odd request regarding it... Can you "cut" the front wall so we can see inside of the factory? As you can see with the ingame frigate and capital ship factories, the ships are built "inside" of them, and exit out of the front. If this is too much work, don't bother, as a completed ship spawns "outside" of the factory.

 

There are Turbolaser and missile defense platforms in EaW. I'll use those designs. They look nice.

For a construction ship i think the cargo ferry from XWA will do nicely.

Most excellent

[sloosecannon]

Last update I made was far lower than 65 MB. Is that normal?

Yes, as SVN has it's magical ways of "updating" previously existing files. To it, a lot of the galaxy.dds was already "there" when you updated. This also happens when you are uploading things to the SVN, it doesn't upload the "whole" file.

 

 

Oh so THAT's why it's so efficient... it doesn't just update the files by increment, it updates the data incrementally... that's kinda cool

[Lavo]

Warb, when you fix up old/already ingame models in 3DS max (ex. Scout Ship), please remember to center the model (Select and Move -> Translation Type-In -> Set X, Y, and Z [Absolute:World] to 0) before exporting the .obj. If you don't do this I can't use the model as all the weapon nulls will be off. Likewise, I have to ask for you to re-send me the Scout Ship, Gunboat, and Ro'ik Va'lh due to this; send me the .max or .3ds file if what I said doesn't make sense.

[Warb_Null]

I exported the meshes directly from MAX with the plugin. It seemed to work fine although the roik vahl took about half an hour to export.

I didn't notice anything wrong ingame though i was mostly looking at the textures and the absence of holes

 

Here are the max files

http://speedy.sh/u2Db5/Vong-max.rar

 

On the Sluis Van Yard ; I can cut out the front but there isn't a whole lot of room inside. it's very narrow in the center. and you'd have to look directly in the end to see anything. I agree you should be able to see the ship being build. Why not use the shipyard from XWA instead? it's big and open. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Telgorn_shipyard

I don't think the TEC shipyards look terrible out of place either

[Lavo]

Thanks for those max files. Yeah for some reason the plugin is imperfect and imports things slightly off. The Telgorn works as well. Admittedly I went with the Sluis Van yards as those were the first I found that work.